Conquering Those Dreaded Verbal Hairballs Forever!

Have you ever been in front of a really important audience with
something really important to say and the words suddenly get all balled
up in your mouth? I call these moments VERBAL HAIRBALLS.

SO WHAT IS A VERBAL HAIRBALL ANYWAY?

I
have been studying VERBAL HAIRBALLS for quite some time now. It seems
they most often arise when a person doesn’t ever practice their speech
out loud. Public speaking is of course a VERBAL medium and yet I am
constantly amazed at how many times a person will SAY they practiced a
speech, but their “practice” has been all IN THEIR HEAD and never actually OUT LOUD.

FIVE SIMPLE STEPS TO CONQUER VERBAL HAIRBALLS FOREVER!

The object of any great speech is to have it SOUND LIKE YOU. If it sounds like you speak in real life, it’s just right.

Here are five simple steps to avoid those persnickety VERBAL HAIRBALLS forever!

1. As
   you are writing your speech, say the lines out loud, perhaps a
   paragraph at a time. You will quickly discover what sounds like you and
   what doesn’t. We all tend to write much more formally than we speak so
   reading the lines of your speech out loud will give you very a quick
   idea of whether it sounds like you or some encyclopedia….excuse
   me….wikipedia.
2. If anything you hear out loud sounds funny or
   not you or just plain “Off” you can be sure it will become a VERBAL
   HAIRBALL when you are speaking under pressure. So if you find any word
   or phrase or  ANYTHING that feels “Off,” or just doesn’t feel or sound
   right to your own ear, it’s a VERBAL HAIRBALL in the making. So, change
   the wording until it sounds right to you when you read it again out
   loud. Don’t be upset or worried if this takes a few tries to get it
   right. Sometimes words or lines need to be played around with and
   changed a few times until they feel “just right” and just like you
   speak in real life. If you get stuck, read it out loud to someone you
   trust and ask their ideas about how to rephrase the word or line. Or
   call me. That’s what I’m here for.
3. Practice everything out
   loud, yes your entire speech, at least twenty times (yes that was 20)
   BEFORE the actual day of your speech. Take it to bed with you and read
   it out loud before you go to sleep and when you first wake up. That
   counts as two. 18 more to go.
4. Depending on whether you have
   waited until the very last second to write your speech, (and most
   people do since they hate public speaking so darn much) you will either
   be reading a LOT the day before or several times each day in the week
   leading up to your speech.
5. I prefer that my clients take
   the leisurely approach and have their speech done the WEEK before so
   the reading out loud can really “settle in to their body and their
   speaking bones.” But hey, if you really like pressure, go ahead and
   wait until the last minute. You will be in the company of some really
   terrific and very talented people who choose to do it that way. And
   while they might sometimes, but not often, even pull it off, YOU most likely will be setting yourself up to be a SITTING DUCK for a VERBAL HAIRBALL. At the same time, you will probably even reinforce your dread and loathing of public speaking even deeper. But why do that when there is such an EASY SOLUTION?

VERBAL HAIRBALLS BEGONE FOREVER!

So take the
pressure off of yourself! Get your speech written EARLY!!
Practice everything you are going to say OUT LOUD!!!  Find and change
every VERBAL HAIRBALL BEFORE the VERBAL HAIRBALL gets YOU under
pressure. I promise if you do these five simple steps you will PROUDLY say
goodbye to VERBAL HAIRBALLS FOREVER!